How to clean bird dropping. Don’t let it harm your car
Clearing the bird droppings on the car body is something that many owners often encounter. What should we do in this particular situation?
We shall be reminded not only to avoid contact with raw poultry, and poultry excrement can not be touched. This is especially important for the owners of vehicles. Cleaning up the guano on the car body is something that many owners often encounter. What should we do in this particular situation?
- People may wonder if guano carry a virus?
The recent news circulating on Weibo probably means that friends who drive must pay attention to bird droppings. If bird droppings do not touch the windows and door handles, bird droppings may carry the bird flu virus. If exposed, there is a risk of infection with the H7N9 bird flu virus.
In this regard, we specifically visited medical experts to understand the situation. Experts stated that although the H7N9 bird flu virus has not yet received direct evidence of human-to-human transmission, the public should be wary of potentially dangerous birds and their attachments and excrement. Do not touch poultry directly, especially poultry that have died of illness or cause of death. For poultry feces, it is also best not to touch directly.
- How should bird droppings be removed?
Bird droppings are a lot of headaches for car owners. Once bird droppings contain acidic substances, falling on the car body can cause corrosion, and it is not hygienic. Recently, the bird flu virus that has caused everyone nervousness is even more difficult for owners to actually wipe out bird droppings. It’s not a difficult task. Everyone needs to use the methods and pay attention to personal hygiene. Guano for cars and us. Your health will not cause too great a threat.
As a car owner, you can prepare a diluted paint cleaner on your car, spray it on the car paint or window stained with bird droppings, and then attach a damp tissue or rag. Wait a few minutes. Wipe off after softening. In some cases, bird droppings become very dry and hard due to the sun exposure. They need to spend more time soaking and wetting them with water, and generally have a good removal effect.
If there is no professional cleaning agent, the owner can also use the common household cleaning agent, but be sure to pay attention to the neutral, otherwise it will have a corrosive effect on the paint. In addition, wet wipes that we all use with us are also a good choice, because the alcohol content in wet wipes has a good effect on softening bird droppings and disinfection.
After removing bird droppings from the bodywork, it is best to wipe it again with a cleaning solution to ensure that the corrosive guano remains are completely removed. It would be much better if you could wash the car.
Another point to be reminded: Do not rigidly adhere to the tightly adhered bird droppings to prevent the bird droppings from entering the nail seam. Hard guano on the car window must not be forcibly wiped with a wiper, so as not to accelerate the aging of the wiper rubber strip. It is best to use a lot of patience to wash or soak in water.
In this special period, car owners should pay more attention to personal hygiene protection when cleaning bird droppings. First, after removing bird droppings, they must wash their hands as soon as possible, and clean up the waste paper and wastes in a timely manner. The rags must be cleaned and disinfected for the first time. If more exquisite, it is ideal to bring a pair of plastic gloves.
DIY Car Cleaning Tips – Interior
Vacuuming Car Interior
Although most of us wind up our car windows and switch on the air-conditioner when we travel in our cars, unknown to us, we can be breathing in foul or dirty air if our car interiors are not well maintained. Dust, dirt and pollen can enter our cars when we open and close our car doors. Having inefficient or expired cabin air filters in our cars can also let these pollutants in. The clothes that we wear, the fabric on our car seats and the fibres in our car floor mats also shed lint which can accumulate inside our cars. A person with a sensitive nose or suffering from allergy will be the first to detect air that is dirty in our cars. For those of us who are unaware of this, we could be breathing in dirty air day in and day out and in the long run, this could bring about health problems. That is why, regular vacuuming of our car interior is a good practice as much as cleaning our car’s exterior.
If we maintain our cars by ourselves, it would be good to invest in a good hand-held vacuum cleaner. This will ensure that every nook and cranny of our car can be reached when we vacuum our car interior. We start with the relatively cleaner areas such as our car dashboard, console, door panels, glove compartments and door pockets. We use the brush attachment that comes with our vacuum cleaner or a paint brush with the tapered attachment to wipe off dust especially in the louvres of our air vents and catch the dust with our vacuum. After vacuuming, we can lightly wipe them and our glass windows with a moist microfibre cloth to pick up any leftover dust. For clean, healthy air to pass through our air vents, we can sometimes spray them with an all-purpose cleaner or use a mild disinfectant and wipe off with a cloth.
Next, we vacuum the car seats and upholstery especially the crevices of any dirt, debris or fallen hair. Lastly, we remove all floor mats and dust them outside the car and vacuum the underlying carpet. To reach deep in between the fibres of the carpet, we run the vacuum cleaner along the line of the fibres to kick up all dirt that may be stuck there. Regular vacuuming of our car interior will keep us and our passengers fresh and healthy when travelling in our car.
Cleaning Car Seat / Leather
To clean car seat upholstery made of woven cloth or fabric that is badly soiled or dirty, we will need first to vacuum it and remove all dirt and debris before wetting and cleaning it. We spray the pre-vacuumed seats with a fabric cleaner or shampoo and scrub gently with a soft brush to remove all dirt and stains, mopping up by hand using a microfibre cloth. For parts that are heavily soiled, it is good to repeat this action a few times, scrubbing the linen gently to avoid patches on the car seat.
For car leather seats, we spray a generous amount of leather cleaner directly onto the surface. We can use a clean microfibre cloth to rub the cleaner into the seat in tiny circular motions, gently removing dirt and stains on the leather. We let it remain for about 30 seconds and then wipe clean with a clean cloth. If stains or dirt still persist, we repeat this action by applying the cleaner directly onto the seat and gently scrubbing and then cleaning the seat. We air the car to remove the smell from the leather cleaner and our car seats can be as good as new.
For more DIY Car Care tips, read from posts on DIY Car Cleaning Tips for Exterior and DIY Car Care Tips for Body Paintwork.
DIY Car Care Tips – Body Paintwork
Car polishing
There is often confusion between car polishing and car waxing. Polishing should always come first. True car polishing is a form of paint correction whereby our body paintwork is restored in a permanent way in its depth, shine and gloss through the removal of scratches, blemishes and other paint imperfections. It is done by removing thin layers of paint coat (paint correction) by applying an abrasive compound in the car polish or wax onto our car body paint. It makes small scratches and swirls on our car body disappear, leaving an even, like-new surface behind. After this is done, we can then carry out car waxing to add shine and gloss to our car. Car waxing adds a protective layer that prevents contaminants from adhering to our car body and resists new imperfections. In addition, it is what gives our car paint a deep shine and glossy as-good-as-new look.
However, many products that are sold as car polish do not usually have abrasives in them. They may have chemical cleaners that have ingredients that use solvents and chemicals to dissolve and remove oxidised material or dirt on car surfaces but do not contain any form of true polish or abrasive material.
Cleaner car waxes, ie. polishes that do not contain abrasives are good for beginners to start polishing our cars with as we can use it as often we like without making any paint correction. These products actually perform the ‘polishing’ or ‘cleaning’ using chemicals and not abrasives thus restoring and enhancing the car body gloss. If our car paint is still in relatively good condition, we can use these cleaner car waxes or milder polish without abrasives. They should be sufficient to remove light swirls and scratches on our car body. Where car paintwork is old or heavily damaged, or where more serious body paintwork restoration is required, the services of a professional detailer or car care expert will probably be needed.
Car polishing done by ourselves can be easily carried out by hand or by a machine polisher, if we can get hold of the equipment. If done by hand, we use a clean microfibre cloth and apply a drop of polish to the cloth. It is good practice to test out on a small discreet area first to check for discolouration, damage, texture, and any other changes that might happen on our car with a product never used before. We wipe the cloth with the polish across a 2-ft by 2-ft section at a time. We rub in an even circular motion, adding polish to the cloth as we go and using a new section of the cloth for new areas. We apply sufficient pressure only to clean the top layers of our car bodywork and are careful not to wear away the car’s paint and coating over time. To protect delicate areas like rubber moulding and plastics on our car body from being affected by the chemicals in the car polish, we can cover these parts with masking tape.
If we use a machine polisher, it may take up lesser energy on our part but care must also be given on the amount of pressure to apply on the polisher so as not to over polish our car paintwork. When using a machine polisher, we put on the applicator pad on the polisher and then add a small amount of polish to the pad. We begin with a low speed, lightly spreading the polish around the working section and then adjusting to a higher speed on the area being polished. We work in the polish using back-and-forth strokes creating a crosshatch pattern. We continue until the polish thins and is evenly applied, and then wipe clean with a microfibre cloth. This process is repeated for each section until the whole car is complete.
Car waxing
Car waxing helps provide protection and visual enhancement to our cars. It can help nourish and enhance the appearance of the outermost layer of our car body. Restoring paintwork, removing defects, scratches, and loss of shine will require the use of abrasives or cleaners in polishes.
Our cars would have had a new clear coat of paint when it was first manufactured, but this coat wears off over time and the paint is left to fend for itself against the elements. To protect the paintwork, we use car wax. Wax is sacrificial in that it will wear off over the course of a few months and will need to be re-applied if we want to maintain protection on our car body paintwork. The wax applied on our cars absorb stains and small scratches before those hazards make it to the paintwork.
Car wax can come as a paste, liquid or cream. A popular type of car wax used is the carnauba-based (natural) wax which can come in various forms. Others prefer synthetic polymer waxes, also known as paint sealant. One application of any of this wax can usually last about one and a half to two months.
Like our car polish, we can either apply wax manually by hand or by using a machine polisher. If using liquid wax, we remember to shake the containers before use and from time to time during application so as to get an even mix of the wax. If applying manually, we put a few drops of the wax on a clean mircrofibre cloth and rub evenly on small sections at a time in circular motion. Using a machine polisher, we apply the wax to the foam applicator and rub it into the finish with a swirling motion. As it dries, the wax will form a haze on the car surface. We wipe off the haze from the car surface with a clean microfibre towel. We repeat this process until the whole car is waxed. It is common to apply two coats of wax when waxing our cars, for the second coat to cover areas that the first might have missed. If our car is often kept outdoors, it would be good practice to wax our car once every few months to maintain the shine on the paintwork.
Read other posts on DIY Car Cleaning Tips for Exterior and DIY Car Care Tips for Interior.
DIY Car Cleaning Tips – Exterior II
Under the harsh weather conditions our cars are subject to, our car body paintwork needs the most care for us to maintain it as bright and shiny, and near to its original state. Strong UV light from the sun’s rays, acid rain, bird droppings, dust and dirt from the streets and the surroundings our cars travel in, all can contribute to the fading and contamination of our car’s original paintwork. Thankfully, most modern cars manufactured today are protected with clear coat over the paintwork to prevent rapid deterioration from long exposure to the elements. However, to maintain them at near original state, some maintenance on our part as car owners can be carried out without having to spend too much effort and money to restore them.
Decontaminating car paint
After a good car wash, there can be times when we feel some roughness due to stubborn contaminants still stuck on our car surface. These are contaminants picked up from exposure to the surroundings especially with our cars travelling at speed against dirt in the atmosphere which get embedded into the clear-coat of our car’s paint surface. Polishing and waxing may sometimes remove them but if not done effectively can cause scratches to our car body. The best way to remove them is by using a good clay bar kit which can be used to literally pluck out the contaminants from the car surface.
A good clay kit would include a lubricating spray and several pieces of synthetic clay. To begin decontaminating our car paintwork, we have to get our car washed off superficial dirt and wiped dry. We tear off a small chunk of clay and flatten it into a small pancake in the palm of our hand. We then squirt the lubricating liquid or spray wax on one section of our car body and on the paint clay. Using straight-line strokes, we move the clay with a back-and-forth motion over the car surface and continue until the surface feels smooth. We can fold the clay again, knead it and re-flatten to rub on the car surface until the clay turns gray. When that happens we use a fresh piece until the rough surfaces are removed and we get a glass-like finish.
Car glass cleaning
Acid rain mixed with dust and dirt in the atmosphere or when it acts on rubber and vinyl on our car windows can cause streaks of stain to remain on the glass windows of our cars. Washing with normal car washing liquids seldom remove these stains. This is where good glass cleaners come in. It is essential that we find specially formulated glass cleaners that do not have ammonia, which most household glass cleaners contain. Ammonia causes damage to vinyl upholstery and the instrument panel.
Using a clean microfibre cloth, we spray 2 or 3 squirts of glass cleaner and rub the insides of windshield and windows using straight-line strokes (not circular). This is very effective in removing dirt, grease and other residue on tinted windows and mirrors without damaging them. We then repeat the same for the glass windows and windshield on the exterior of our car and use a clean microfibre cloth to remove any remaining streaks.
For more DIY Car Care Tips, read our posts on DIY Car Cleaning Tips for the Interior, more DIY Car Cleaning Tips for the Exterior and DIY Car Care Tips for Body Paintwork.
DIY Car Cleaning Tips – Exterior
Washing the Exterior
Dust and dirt gathered from the outside can cause great harm to our car’s body. Rain, especially acid rain formed by rain combining with waste gases in the atmosphere, if left unwashed after falling on our car, can also cause damage to our car’s body paint. That is why even if we do not have time to do a full car wash, it is good practice to often hose down our car body after going through rain or very dusty and dirty surroundings.
The longer we allow dust and dirt to build up on our car, the more damaging it will be to remove them. Ideally, a car should be washed as often as practicable but if not too dirty, once a week would be good to maintain car body paint.
Use the right cloth and washing liquid
Washing our car the right way is essential to avoid unnecessary damage or scratches to the surface. It is good practice to use separate mircofibre cloths or sponge to wash the car exterior and a different set or colour for the car interior. Never use old bath towels or flannel cloth to wash car body as the flint that come out can scratch car body paintwork. Dish washing liquids are not suitable at all for washing cars as they can also remove essential oils and wax on the car body finish. Use only cleaning liquids formulated for cars as they are can preserve paintwork better. They can be found in most DIY shops or hypermarkets.
Hand wash for best effect
Hand washing a car is the best way to know every corner of our car body so that special attention can be given for those parts affected by scratches, stains or dents. We start by mixing a pail of water with a few capfuls of concentrated car cleaning liquid as per manufacturer’s instructions. Sufficient lather is worked up to ensure more efficient cleaning of the car body. Before washing the car with the cleaning liquid, we wet the car body by hosing it down with a powerful jet of water and try to dislodge clumps of dirt or stains with the water. Using the mocrofibre cloth and cleaning liquid, we clean from the top to bottom by starting with the roof first, then the windows and windscreen, carefully pulling up windshield wipers and cleaning the wiper rubber, and then cleaning every panel, stopping at the bottom panel and car tyres as they are usually the dirtiest and should be done last. Every so often we should remember to clean and rinse the cleaning cloth or sponge we are using in a pail of clean water, using our hands to loosen and rinse away any dirt particles. After the whole car body has been cleaned with the car washing liquid, we then use our cloth for the bottom panel, and a separate one for cleaning our car tyres and rims. Rinsing and cleaning is then done for the whole car from top to bottom by hosing with a jet of water, at the same time gently wiping away the cleaning liquid with our wet microfibre cloth. To dry the car, we use a dry microfibre towel, cleaning and rinsing it in a fresh pail of water. Doing a car wash is the minimum we can do to care for our car and should be done as often as practicable to maintain our car body exterior.
Cleaning car tyres
We should clean our car wheels and tyres last as they are in contact with the road all the time and collect dirt, tar and oils, so it is always good practice to separate the cleaning of wheels and tyres from the rest of the car. Dirt from tyres and lower panels of the car can also stick to our cleaning cloth or sponge and then scratch our car body paint. As with our car body, we start by wetting the wheels with a jet hose and then we spray a wheel and tyre cleaner onto them. There are different types of wheel cleaners in the market, but thebetter ones should be water-based solutions, ie. acid-free, so as to avoid damage to our wheels and to the environment. We let the solution stay on for a while and then wash them off by scrubbing with a stiff brush remembering only to clean the rubber and avoid scratching the metallic rims. As for the rims, we use a separate cloth to clean them with car washing liquid mixed in water, going through every corner behind the rims and then thoroughly rinsing them off with a strong jet of water and drying with a cloth.
Read our other posts on DIY Car Care Tips for Body Paintwork and DIY Car Cleaning Tips for the Interior.
